The way our SFMTA has this intersection set up now is that joggers only have about 7 seconds to start crossing Masonic during a 75 second signal cycle. Assuming they don’t purposefully speed up or slow down to catch their green, that means they have less than a 10% chance of not encountering a red signal for crossing. Human nature being what it is, people jog across against the light and the resulting accident is the jogger’s fault. Check it:

Anyway, that’s why so many people are getting hit by cars at this intersection.

For whatever reason, the SFPD isn’t motivated to enforce the CA Vehicle Code upon peds, so this is the result.

If you believe in ped safety, you’d be in favor of a ped enforcement action here, to learn the joggers. OTOH, if you get paid to promote ped “rights,” then you’d disfavor a ped enforcement action here – you’d bend over backwards to displace blame. I mean, these peds aren’t “mistakenly” jaywalking, they’re doing it on purpose, right?

Here’s what it looks like – an SFPD enforcement action, this latest one at Oak and Masonic. (Note modern-looking SFPD Kawasaki Concours 14P (which looks to me like a CHP BMW) juxtaposed with the ancient Harley Davidsons what make up most of the Motor Patrol.)

This action meant that every driver who commited some infraction turning left from inbound Oak onto northbound Masonic got pulled over at the Masonic Chevron.

One supposes that the new left turn arrow phase at this intersection was the instigation for the enforcement action. (Back in the day, traffic didn’t back up during the Morning Drive due to the Double Left Turn that’s no longer there, owing to concerns over ped safety, one supposes.)

That was the scene I initialy came upon and this is the same area as I left. Note the all-black Mercedes Benz, Audi and Lexus. It’s not a coincidence that the drivers of all these cars got pulled over at the same time, just saying:

Of course, the SFPD will also pull you over if they notice you doing something wrong going the other way, but the funny thing was that the two cars I saw getting pulled over heading south on Masonic, against the current, heading towards the Financial, were normal ones, like VW Golfs. (I’ll ask you, should you ever be proud of your car? The answer is that no you shouldn’t be, because Pride Goeth Before The Painful Traffic Ticket What’s Going to End Up Costing Your Four Figures. JMO.)

Moving on, to this – peds coming up to chat up the cops to cheer them on.

Now I’ll tell you, I didn’t see any driver run a red during the time I was at these intersection taking photos of the enforcement action, but I was paying more attention to the cops as opposed to the drivers. And I’ll note that sometimes the traffic lights would cycle red green red green red green without anyone getting pulled over.

I’ll leave you with this, my misfocused shot of a ped giving a black power salute to the SFPD to thank them for this latest enforcement action:

So if you had noticed the live score seen at the top of the screen, then you’d have known that the Seattle drive you were watching would end, SPOILER ALERT, in a field goal.

Cord cutting* comes at a price, so very high.

Just saying.

*Believe it or not, my town, the second-largest in the northern half of the state, has no NBC affiliate, so my aging 70 inch Sharp has zero chance of receiving KNTV out of San Joser using my rabbit ears, as I’m on the wrong side of Twin Peaks. Plus, I can’t go satellite as I have no view of the southern sky. And Comcast, well, Comcast is the Devil. Now last year, that was different, that was par-tay time (at least until the end, the very end of the game) at 720p on a decent, non-spoiler network. But this year, meh. Oh well.

One problem is that old vendor, the entity that the Save Stow Lake people wanted to “save,” charged too much money, starting about five or six years ago. For example, the old vendor would charge $19 per hour for some pretty busted up row boats.

The current rate is back down to $14 per hour:

And this is the cafe seating area, which doesn’t seem to get used too much. (The worry some people had was that this would become a high-end destination restaurant with concomitant traffic and parking hassles.)

Rec and Park has a lot of issues, IMO, and I’m unafraid to criticize it, certainly. But I didn’t see what the big beef was about putting the boat house contract out for bid. And of course, I still don’t.

TARA Study: Training of Attention and emotion Regulation in Adolescents with depression

The UCSF TARA study is seeking adolescents age 14-18 for a 6-month study that may include a novel 12-week depression program. Depressed teens may learn yoga, breathing and meditation techniques to learn to slow down, feel more safe and calm, regulate emotions, and improve attention and focus.

There is no cost to participate. Participants will be paid $140 for 4 study visits over 6 months and may be eligible for $200 more for additional study procedures.

Must be 14-18 years old and receiving depression treatment. Participation requires parental or guardian permission (unless age 18).

For more information about the study and eligibility, please call 415-353-9723.

Read the Consent Form (Word or PDF) for more details on study participation.”

Webster Street Stage
The Nihonmachi Street Fair’s entertinment has been a platform for veteran as well as up and coming musical performers. From jazz to hip hop, reggae to rock catch one of the best FREE shows in town for the summer.

Upper Post Street will welcome the island spirit through music and dance on the Ho`olaule`a Stage. Performers from the Bay Area, Southern California and as far as Hawaii will grace the stage. This year the Ho`olaule`a Stage is dedicated to the memory of our very own Hsing Tzu Yukiko Leahine Wu Dang – “Amah” to all of us in Jtown.

But, these big rigs also have an extra battery and electric motor for hybrid functionality PLUS members of the “City Family” will be able to plug in to the power grid to charge up the battery as well.

It’s going to look a little something like this, garish graphics and all:

Click to expand

Now, if City workers are really careful, they’ll probably be able to go 15 miles about town solely on electric power, assuming that the battery is all charged up at the beginning of the day.

But what San Francisco probably really wants is an electric truck without a gas engine at all. Oh well. (It’s the same way with Mayor Ed Lee’s official staff car – why have them put the gas engine in at all if you don’t want it and you aren’t going to use it?)

But then the Feds said, well, here’s a few tens of millions of dollars we’ve got sitting around, so why don’t you take that money to build just 140 units instead, and then give these trucks away to America’s mayors?

Details: Following the press conference, Ram 1500 Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles will be available for photo opportunities and a ride-and-drive around a city driving course. Media parking available in parking structure just off the Civic Center plaza.”

UPDATE: Well, it turns out that Sacramento is going to get 14 big rigs as well, so maybe we’re not all that special. In mitigation, Los Angeles and Fun Diego and the rest of SoCal, they’re getting nothing! Zero free trucks from Chrysler and Uncle Sucker. Eat it, L.A!